title: Cortical thickness abnormalities in cocaine addiction--a reflection of both drug use and a pre-existing disposition to drug abuse?
abstract: The structural effects of cocaine on neural systems mediating cognition and motivation are not well known. By comparing the thickness of neocortical and paralimbic brain regions between cocaine-dependent and matched control subjects, we found that four of 18 a priori regions involved with executive regulation of reward and attention were significantly thinner in addicts. Correlations were significant between thinner prefrontal cortex and reduced keypresses during judgment and decision making of relative preference in addicts, suggesting one basis for restricted behavioral repertoires in drug dependence. Reduced effortful attention performance in addicts also correlated with thinner paralimbic cortices. Some thickness differences in addicts were correlated with cocaine use independent of nicotine and alcohol, but addicts also showed diminished thickness heterogeneity and altered hemispheric thickness asymmetry. These observations suggest that brain structure abnormalities in addicts are related in part to drug use and in part to predisposition toward addiction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Makris
authors.forename: Gregory P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Gasic
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hodge
authors.forename: Jonathan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kaiser
authors.forename: Myung Joo
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Byoung Woo
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Anne J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Blood
authors.forename: A Eden
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Evins
authors.forename: Larry J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Seidman
authors.forename: Dan V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Iosifescu
authors.forename: Sang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baxter
authors.forename: Roy H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Perlis
authors.forename: Jordan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Smoller
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fava
authors.forename: Hans C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Breiter
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology